REVIEWING a new life of Stalin [1] Robert Service remarks that Trotsky’s contempt, for him as a mediocrity “never explained how such a man could hoodwink and kill millions.” Nobody ever has explained this, and nobody ever will, for it didn’t happen; one only has to envisage those millions lining up for treatment and Stalin… read more »
IC50 commented on the reaction, of the International Committee for the Defence of Salman Rushdie, to his announcement of his conversion. IC51 printed a letter, from Nicolas Walter, strongly criticising the comment, with a reply. He has written again, but the main part of his letter adds nothing of substance and his side of that argument has already… read more »
The major ideologies have been pictorially presented in a variety of ways; as a system of levels, a pyramid, a circle, a series of points on a graph, or as nodes on a line of development. Each presentation illuminates some features of the system. Here ADRIAN WILLIAMS introduces a novel conception, and one likely to… read more »
Russia abandons the drive towards communism, America (with a little help) drives Iran out of Kuwait, Mrs. Thatcher resigns the premiership. Great events, all of them. And now, to crown the series (spotlight, roll of drums): IC GOES QUARTERLY. This issue carries the date Summer 1991, to be followed by Autumn, Winter and Spring. The… read more »
Revision of January 1990. IDEOLOGICAL COMMENTARY announces itself as an independent journal of systematic ideology, but it does not claim final knowledge of this theory; the formulation that looked like the ultimate last month needs alteration now, and the account given here will be subject to continuous revision. Systematic ideology is the creation of the… read more »
If there is one thing on which anarchists agree it is that anarchy would be a society of freedom. This has no sooner been said than it has to be qualified: under anarchy all would be free to do as they liked, provided they didn’t interfere with the freedom of others. That sounds innocent enough,… read more »
When a conservative government clamps down on people who want to publish books about the security forces, when it restricts demonstrations, strengthen the police and imposes a uniform curriculum on the schools, and does all this while claiming to promote freedom, the reformers and revolutionaries find the combination difficult to accept. When socialists, communists and… read more »